Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.0902160145260.16548@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: ob/scene
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:45:42 -0500 (EST)
ob/scene i hesitated to put these images up; they'll remain for a day or two, that's all. they're a psycho/logical extension/end to the problematic of touch in Second Life or other (current) virtual worlds; sexuality is a question of the visual, and nothing more, although touch is a promise and a premise. avatars approach to an extent but here 'touch me' is an impossibility and an aporia. what's chased down disappears, dries out. these images aren't pornographic, although they appear anatomical at the least. they were part and parcel of motion capture experiments: what if a single sensor were inserted into the body (near the hip, the root node) - and every other sense held still? This is the inverse of the usual state of affairs, in which the root node is stationary and everything else moves. So here the body becomes a sexualized writing instrument; at the same time, it produces a genital mapping that distorts and discomforts the viewer - as if the flesh somehow "made it" into Second Life on its own. i request you ignore these images if explicit imagery offends you; they'll only be up for a few days. in the installation, they remain buried deep in the spheres, as if there were organs and membranes among the avatars that couldn't quite be contained. here however, they're brought to the surface by virtue of the still, hence anatomical image. i request you ignore the texts if explicit text offends you; the text will remain, it suggests, seduces, attacks, withdraws, pleads; it remains buried in the unconscious, in the subconscious, in the preconscious, in consciousness, as if there were procuring among the avatars, as if there were love among the avatars, that couldn't quite be contained, that could be brought to the surface, by pleading, begging, seducing, withdrawing, withdrawing, withdrawing ... http://www.alansondheim.org/ slab jpg series the best get if you have the chance, is to go to the installation; at this point you'll want to fly in, then 'stop flying' and drop into the middle of the floor. installation url: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22 mail archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/